The present invention relates to an amusement ride system and, more particularly, to an amusement ride employing non-driven moving cars containing one or more people adapted for bumping into each other and railings arranged in the system.
There are many varieties of amusement ride systems employing a plurality of bumping vehicles or cars containing one or more passengers for random travel within a restricted area. More prevalent in this type of amusement ride are those systems employing cars which bump each other and railings or bumper elements positioned within the restricted area. In some of these systems, a passenger in the vehicle is allowed to control, to some extent, his movement and orientation relative to the other cars and the area of movement. In still other systems, the vehicles are allowed to be moved in a passive sense either by external sources of a force, or by striking of other cars without control by the operator.
In those systems which permit the operator some limited control over the direction of movement and orientation of a vehicle, it has been observed that in many instances, some of the cars, at least those having passengers which are rather timid and not aggressive with respect to causing bumping engagements with vehicles, tend to congregate in some corner or some other position on a riding platform where activity is at a minimum, or in some instances, are held in park positions either by inability to control his vehicle or by the bunching up of other vehicles. In many of these instances, the affected passenger is intimidated by the more aggressive operators of the other vehicles and, upon conclusion of the amusement ride, is rather disappointed if not completely unhappy because of the predicament he experienced.
In some of the conventional amusement rides of the type described above, ground effect or air flotation principles and mechanisms therefore are utilized to permit the easy movement of amusement vehicles upon a platform. In these systems, the platform is provided with a plurality of openings, and fluidized pressure is introduced below the platform for directing air through the openings. The individual vehicles or cars are designed with suitably formed cavities which, upon experiencing the movement of the air through the openings, is lifted or nearly so relative to the platform.
In any event, the frictional engagement of the vehicles and the platform surface is substantially reduced so that the individual cars may be easily moved about randomly upon the platform. This arrangement provides great amusement for the passengers in the vehicles since slight bumping of one vehicle relative to another or to a railing surrounding the riding platform causes immediate change in directions and orientation of the vehicles and perhaps even various degrees of rotational speed imparted thereto.
An example of such a system in a prior art is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,193,470. In this patent, an amusement ride system is disclosed having a horizontally arranged platform for vehicles which are adapted to provide control by the passengers for movement of the vehicles around the platform. The disadvantage in this system is that more timid passengers are likely to be intimidated by the more aggressive passengers in other vehicles and be pushed or bumped around and/or be held in a corner or in passive activity throughout the entire ride. Another example of an air flotation device for moving objects is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,987,581. However, there is no means for effecting random movement of vehicles, which thereby lessens the pleasure in riding in such vehicles. In U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,877,256 and 2,458,150, there is disclosed amusement rides employing a platform for vehicles arranged at a slight acute angle relative to a horizontal plane. This arrangement adds to the effect of gravity to the cars by driving the same around fixed tracks arranged on a platform. In these arrangements, there is no provision for bumper car activity which is a specific form of pleasure for participants at amusement parks.
The present invention has been devised to overcome the disadvantages and problems discussed above by providing for bumper car amusement that is available equally for all types of personalities of those who engage in this type of amusement. In the present invention, the passengers have absolutely no control over the vehicle or car in which they are riding and yet the cars are capable of random bumping action equally applicable to all of the cars regardless of the number and status of experience of the passengers.
Therefore, it is the principle object of the present invention to enhance the amusement capability of bumper car amusement rides by producing random motion of passenger cars equally applicable to all cars without passenger control.
Another object of the invention is to increase the amusement of bumper car amusement arrangements by handling all of the cars in the system equally so that all passengers in all the vehicles derive the same motions capable for the system.